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$65,000 legal fees awarded in reverse domain name hijacking case

A federal district court judge has ordered two men to pay close to $65,000 in attorneys fees after filing a lawsuit over the domain name BeautifulPeople.com and other related domains.

In 2015 Beautiful People Magazine, Inc filed a UDRP against the domain names even though their claimed rights to the name postdated the domains’ registration dates. A National Arbitration Forum panel found the complainant guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.

Shockingly, people associated with the complainant in the UDRP then filed a federal lawsuit to try to get the domain names. The court dismissed the case citing the registrations dates coming before the trademarks.

According to the ruling, the plaintiffs pursued the case when the defendants refused to settle by providing a licensing agreement.

Given the egregious nature of the case, the judge called it “exceptional” and ordered (pdf) the plaintiffs to pay $65,000 in attorney’s fees.